In a macabre surreal incident, in the middle of the night,in 2005 David Miscavige, the so called "Pope" (leader of Scientology) had a large bunch of Sea org Managers and staff dance around playing and grabbing a chair in a sadistic game of Musical chairs to "Bohemian Rhapsody."
It happened here ~~

Under the threat of being kicked off the base with $500 and sent to the middle of nowhere never to see their spouse again, he terrorized the fragile pummeled overwhelmed staff acting out his supreme power.

This story of Int base musical chairs was leaked by Marc Headley, author of the book Blown for Good and might be the most widely read story (of all time) of internal abuse of the "Church" of Scientology as dramatized by Miscavige .

MUSICAL CHAIRS - INT BASE STYLE It was just another day in hell. We had been “restricted” to the CMO Int/WDC conference room for 2 days......

While the music plays, a chair will be removed, and whoever does not get a chair when the music stops, well, that person will be offloaded from the Int Base.>>>

Sadly, and as outrageous as it is, the U.S. Supreme Court has paved the way for DM to freely continue his reign of abuse on current members.

"Tracing the constitutional history of allowing religious organizations the independent right to control their internal affairs, Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion said the string of Court rulings going back to Watson v. Jones in 1872 “confirm that it is impermissible for the government to contradict a church’s determination of who can act as its ministers.”

Religious organizations, the Court said, have that freedom from official interference for matters of church government as well as matters of faith and doctrine.

Explicitly following the lead of all federal appeals courts in acknowledging a “ministerial exception,” the Court said that “requiring a church to accept or retain an unwanted minister, or punishing a church for failing to do so, intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision. Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs.” Such interference, it concluded, violates both the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, and that Amendment’s Establishment Clause."

The former Sea Org members grew up in Scientology and joined the elite religious order while in their teens, Marc in 1989 and Claire in 1991. They married in 1992 and remained with the group until 2005. Marc and Claire were 2nd generation Scientologists before they fled INT Base (Gold Base)

9th Circuit (3 [panel) Judges ruling out today said:

“In keeping with church disciplinary policy, the church censored the Headleys’ mail, monitored their phone calls, and required them to obtain permission to access the Internet,” Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, an appointee of former President Reagan, wrote for the court.Marc and hundreds of others had to hand clean human excrement from an aeration pond in 2004, and Claire had to subsist on protein bars and water for six to eight months in 2002, O’Scannlain wrote. But the court said the evidence overwhelmingly showed that the Headleys voluntarily worked for the Sea Org “because they believed that it was the right thing to do” and “enjoyed it.”

Although the couple faced the risk of being declared “suppressive persons” and possibly losing contact with family and friends if they left, that potential did not qualify as “serious harm” under the human trafficking law, the court concluded.

The panel suggested that the Headleys might have fared better had they sued on different grounds.

“They did not bring claims for assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or any of a number of other theories that might have better fit the evidence,” O’Scannlain wrote.

Headley family ~ Facebook.

Claire Headley was forced by the "Church" of Scientology to abort her 1st two pregnancies. This was in the Court documents which are public, never denied by the "Church."

peter wrote:Karen, why was the Headleys so restrictive? I mean they sued only on “serious harm” under the human trafficking law, when suing on different grounds better fit the evidence?

Marc & Claire acted on the advice of counsel.. that Scientologists cannot leave Gold Base even if they have the free will to do so.. and alot of other BS they are forced to do as elite members of Int.

The court ruled that they could sue the cult on other factors. The Headleys are free to file a new lawsuit if they want.

"After fleeing Sea Org, the Headleys sued the church in 2009 under a human-trafficking law that makes it a crime to force people to work under the threat of physical or psychological harm.

Marc Headley alleged three instances of physical abuse in his 15 years with Sea Org and described having to hand-clean human excrement from a pond as discipline. His wife claimed that the church forced her to have two abortions. The couple said they did not flee out of fear of being followed and pressured to return.

Lawyers for the church argued that the Headleys remained with the religious order under their own free will, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.

"The Headleys joined and voluntarily worked for the Sea Org because they believed that it was the right thing to do, because they enjoyed it," Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel in Pasadena, California.

The Headleys lived off the Sea Org base and had ample opportunity to leave, with access to vehicles, phones and the Internet, he wrote. As a result, the human-trafficking law did not apply."

Obviously, the 3 judges had their heads firmly entrenched up their asses when the matters of the inward facing spiked fences, forced imprisonment at the SP Hall, and Marc's being run off the road when he escaped from Gold Base, were mentioned.

In their mind, if the Headleys were allowed to go to Walmart once, and then were abused and enslaved, it's no crime, since they could have escaped then. The court is thinking of a slavery where they getcha, lock you up, and keep you enslaved and guarded non-stop forever. The court ignores the escalating abuse and restrictions, and the crime against humanity of forcing you to "agree" to the RPF or lose your spouse.

I mean they sued only on “serious harm” under the human trafficking law, when suing on different grounds better fit the evidence?

Peter ~~
Marc and Claire were Cult survivors and escapees. They were not legal wizards and relied on Counsel. Their lawyers did all the work. On the face of it, it does seem reasonable to charge "Human Trafficking" given that they had to work 80 to 100 hour weeks for some $20 a week. This is what the "church" gets away with under the "Religious Cloaking." It is run like a business, has stats like a business can even order SLEEP DEPRIVATION" to perform for them if the business stats are not high enough, but the entity gets "Church" and "Religious" Privileges. Human trafficking does occur in moral ethical sense if not in a legal sense.

To answer your question Peter, the Law firm did not follow the guidelines of what the 9th Circuit coached a future Law Suit to do ~~[/b]“They did not bring claims for assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or any of a number of other theories that might have better fit the evidence,” O’Scannlain wrote.
+++++++++++++

The amount of spin fed to the 9th Circuit judges was mind boggling.

Lie #1 Sea Org Members learn that the ministry will require them to work long hours without material compensation.

NO SEA ORG RECRUITERS mentions SLEEP DEPRIVATION or any other abuses. No Sea Org Recruit mentions the RPF or Gulag. Sea Org pay being shut down to 1/2 pay, 1/4 pay is NEVER NEVER mentioned. The long hours, 12-18 hours a day work is a shock only experienced after Sea org contract is signed

Lie #2 Blaming enforced abortions on Sea Org Travel !!!!!

Stunning LIE. They LIE LIE LIE even to officers of the Court.

Quote "Because Sea Org Life may at any moment require a member indefinitely to serve anywhere in the world, the Church prohibits Sea org members from having Children ..."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

90% of the women who had abortions were never involved in any kind of travel ever.
90% of the women who were enforced to have abortions were not "Mission trained" i.e. had not done Mission School and were no where near eligible for "serving anywhere in the world."
SPIN SPIN SPIN

With an RTC Rep, execution arm for Miscavige posted in major "Church" outlets there is little need in this day and age for Mission traffic.

Karen: To answer your question Peter, the Law firm did not follow the guidelines of what the 9th Circuit coached a future Law Suit to do ~~
“They did not bring claims for assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or any of a number of other theories that might have better fit the evidence,” O’Scannlain wrote.
+++++++++++++

Soderqvist1: why didn’t the Law firm follow the guidelines of what the 9th Circuit coached a future Law Suit to do, namely to; sue for assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or any of a number of other theories that might have better fit the evidence, including "serious harm under the human trafficking law"? Have CoS tampered with, or infiltrated the law firm in question?

A side note!
The purpose with the Sea Org is to put Ethics in on the planet according to the contract you have posted, meanwhile their scripture (The ethics justice and the dynamics) written by Hubbard himself claim that ethics is personal thing which only can be putted in by the individual himself by his own effort. And justice is taken against this individual if he fail to do so. This is a contradiction which no amount of word clearing can solve. Not to mention that ethics action is taken against the individual in HCO. In example signed condition of treason etc!http://legacyimgs.lronhubbard.org/human/dyn5.htm

Soderqvist1: so at rot they are interchangeable!
But why are they interchangeable? Because moral stems from Latin which means custom, and Ethics stems from Greek which also means custom. The Swedish word ‘sed’ is the counterpart to english ‘custom’ and the Swedish word "sedesam" means "high moral", or bent with effort into English: “customized”. So Ethics-moral-custom is on an equal footing so to speak. But I know that in Sweden medical-ethics is group behavior, it regulates the behavior of doctor or physician in his profession. And same it is with ethics for security guards, and moral is the individuals own values.

In short Ethics is what others values in example; “you shall not steal” and it is optimally that the moral is same in example it is the individual’s own value that; “I steal not”, because "I don’t like to steal”. And I think that the Sea Org members are confused, or have no clear concept about what is right and wrong, and that is the basic reason to abuse in the Church of Scientology in general. I mean they seems to not know that the offender is always guilty to the crime, and never the victim, and if no laws have been broken, there is no possibility to demand responsibility either, because there is no offender to blame, the sufferer can only blame himself if he gets hurt by an lawful act, in example; if he get fired because of misconduct or something like that!

A simple explanation with few explanation grounds is to prefer, except when you need to hide your flaws! - Peter Soderqvist

When I was working for OSA as a paralegal, there was a lawsuit against CoS brought by one of its former lawyers. The judge at that trial had links to CoS because her husband, who was also a lawyer, used to work for a law firm hired by CoS. The plaintiff asked the judge to recluse herself from the trial because of conflict of interest, which she did.

It is quite possible that O’Scannlain has ties to CoS that the plaintiffs and their lawyers are not aware of.

“This OT shit is driving me insane. On a positive side, I laugh a lot these days because I’m at a funny farm.”
L. Ron Hubbard

Maybe the judge didn't want to set a big legal precedent that religious worker abuse is human trafficking. If overturned in a higher court, that makes the original judge look incompetent. Plain old unlawful restraint or illegal detention would have been easier to prove.

The CULT of the "Church" of Scientology is one that turns children against parents and divides parents against children, husband against wife, sister against brother.
All 2nd generation Scientologists are rewarded for ratting on their parents and "Knowledge Reporting" any dissidence, any thought that does not follow the Party Lines.

2nd generation Scientologists are taught to be expert snitches against their family.

Following the tradition of secret police as a modern-day Gestapo, RTC demanded the entire population of Scientology act as secret informers. A normal report includes copies to the person who is being reported on. But RTC’s report line is confidential. Husbands are encouraged to report on their wives and wives on their husbands. Parents are told to report on their kids and kids to report on their parents. Friends report friends. Marriages, families, and friendships mean nothing to Miscavige.

One of the highest crimes is reporting what goes on in the Sea Organization.
The abuse, the draconian punishments called "religious discipline" is supposed to be carefully hidden under the covers never to be revealed.
In the normal course of events, what person can get away with beatings, assault and battery? Not only has David Miscavige gotten away with this under the guise of “ministerial exception” granted by a judge, but DM has routinely engaged in:

Sadistic lockdowns and sec checks
Serving Oliver Twist slop as food to prisoners in the RPF
Cutting off air conditioning in midsummer to dozens of RPF prisoners locked inside two trailers against their will
Using Sea Org members as if they were Federal Marshals in an attempt to take custody of a fleeing Sea Org member
Ordering husbands and wives in the Sea Org to divorce — or otherwise ordering them to posts hundreds or thousands of miles apart so they can never see each other
Setting the state for wholesale abortions for some 25 years — only recently stopped because of Internet transparency and lawsuits.
Making staff clean the sewage treatment lake (feces pond) at the Int Base without hazmat equipment
Forcing executives to clean the oily bilges of the MV Freewinds without proper safety equipment
Cleaning grease traps at PAC base.
Rats Alley cleaning detail consists of crawling along the hot, stinking, roach-infested passageways on backboards with wheels to deal with pools of stagnant grease from the kitchens above.
The stock in trade of RTC is abuse.

The stock in trade of David Miscavige is sadistic abuse. Miscavige is protected from the consequences of his crimes by $1,000-per-hour attorneys. DM’s legal team is led by his personal Lawyer Monique Yingling. She carefully covers his misdeeds along with her husband criminal defense Lawyer Gerald Feffer. What they have covered up, what they have enabled Miscavige to get away with, is a remarkable lesson in just how dirty and profitable practicing law can be when Miscavige opens the flood gates of parishioner money. Unlimited budget.

Inside of the Church, David Miscavige’s sadistic campaign of terror is carried out and enforced by RTC.

The staff of RTC fawn, placate and do whatever Miscavige wants — These people are toadies who Miscavige rewards with status, cars, shopping trips, cash bonuses, and better pay for their abject obedience, blind loyalty, and cruelty in carrying out DM’s brutal dirty work.

Early on, Miscavige decreed the beingness of RTC members as "cold chrome steel." Thus are warm only to each other and steely cold to everyone else — The RTC network has absolute power over the rest of the Sea Org and exercise that power with cruelty.

Following the tradition of secret police as a modern-day Gestapo, RTC demanded the entire population of Scientology act as secret informers. A normal report includes copies to the person who is being reported on. But RTC’s report line is confidential. Husbands are encouraged to report on their wives and wives on their husbands. Parents are told to report on their kids and kids to report on their parents. Friends report friends. Marriages, families, and friendships mean nothing to Miscavige.

Failure to report someone to RTC makes one an "accessory to the crime.” Sea Org members are encouraged to report the slightest infraction and even when there is only a suspicion of something. RTC policy specifies identical penalties for those who "fail to report" to RTC.

As RTC Inspectors were themselves coerced to enforce DM’s draconian punishments with instant alerts to the "Office of COB" something happened. Departure of RTC members began to occur. The more ethical human beings reached their threshold, their tolerance level and blew. (fled)

DM’s self-appointed title as "Chairman of the Board" is a gigantic lie. There is no "Board of Directors." It is a sham and always was. No board meetings occur. DM can remove “board members” using signed, undated resignations kept by him. Battered and abused Sea Org members must sign these resignations on demand. [/b]
Sea Org Members have no internet connection.
Sea Org members are in the main not permitted cell phones (OSA excepted) and some other exceptions of the TRUSTED few.
All "Registrars" who suck out $$$$$ by heavy hussar tactics are permitted cell phones.

My former husband, President of the Church of Scientology International who has been in "SP Hole" for some 8 years ~~ Heber Jentzsch 76, is not permitted a cell phone
Sea Org Members are cut off from the outside world not even permitted to go to the local library.
Sea Org members are oblivious to internet revelations.
Sea org members are NOT PERMITTED to think an adverse thought against management without "Thought Police" kicking in, suppressing the though for fear of police polygraphing Security Checks...
Sea org members are not permitted a full day off, even once a month.
Sea org members have not been permitted ( for many many years) the policy annual leave of 3 weeks off
Pregnant women are sent to wash dishes in the galley, standing on their feet many hours a day til the route out occurs.

To read this maker me feel quite ill!
David Miscavige ruling doesn’t bother me so much because the man on the street doesn’t buy his horseshit. But there are some people there who are willing victims to be taken advantage of. They seem to lack any sense of willingness to fight for their own personal rights, and freedom. I can feel sorry for their children who have not got the same chance as other children, but instead is feed this crap form the beginning and don’t know about any other way of life than this. But to see these people who has grown up in the real world, and yet take part in this makes me feel disgusted!

A simple explanation with few explanation grounds is to prefer, except when you need to hide your flaws! - Peter Soderqvist

I know how the Google Search Algorithm works. I believe that this thread is very important, so I will be using links to several website, including the official Scientology websites, to make sure that a link to this webpage appears close to the top of a search page.